


What I'm Pursuing

by Former_guz_Writefriend



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, guzma kukui molayne and kahili are doing their island challenge together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 00:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8945419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Former_guz_Writefriend/pseuds/Former_guz_Writefriend
Summary: After a fight with Kahili goes sour, Guzma runs off to be by himself, only to meet a very interesting young girl.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I thought that this would be a short one-shot focusing mostly on Plumeria, and then the first part was almost 2,000 words without even meeting her yet. I decided rather than cutting it I'd expand the focus.
> 
> I may make this whole "the four of them going on their island challenge together" thing into a general series depending on how long my writing kick for Sun and Moon keeps up.

“Great job, cousin!” Kukui exclaimed, patting his peer on the back.

The three friends gathered around Molayne as he proudly looked at the Pokeball in his hand containing his new friend Sandshrew. His smile was slight as he mumbled “Thanks, guys,” but even his reserved personality couldn’t hide how excited he was to finally find another Steel type Pokemon to add to his team.

“It looked really strong, too,” Guzma gushed. “But then you kicked it’s butt anyway! Man Molayne, you always surprise me! Your new Beldum’s Take Down is really frickin’ good!”

“That ice type will be really helpful,” Kahili remarked. “Super effective against grass, flying, ground, and even DRAGON types. It’ll be really really useful once we make it to the big leagues.”

“Yeah, your opponents will FREEZE in their tracks when you send that bad boy out!” Kukui’s pun made the other two groan, but Molayne just laughed.

“Alright, alright, I know you all LOVE my jokes but it’s time to get going, yeah,” he continued with a smirk, putting his hands on his hips. “It’s too cold here, I wanna unzip my jacket again!”

“No, you really don’t have to,” Kahili retorted flatly.

He chose to ignore the reply. “My Pokedex says next stop is to go to this cool abandoned village. It’s near the ocean, and get this- there’s some remains of a Thrifty Megamart there, and local rumor has it that it’s haunted,” he wiggled his fingers and made an ‘ooooooo’ noise for emphasis. “Which I bet means there’s TONS of cool Pokemon there, yeah! So are y’all in?”

“Definitely,” Kahili stated with a smile, while Molayne happily nodded. One member of their group, however, remained quiet.

“Guzma, what about you?” Kukui inquired, putting his arm around the taller boy’s shoulders.

Guzma was, admittedly, nervous. There was a reason he wasn’t a ghost trainer - growing up next to a graveyard his whole life had made him have some unfortunate run-ins with some of them as a child, and now he avoided them whenever he could. He knew he couldn’t tell any of them that, though. They’d just accuse him of being a sissy.

“Ehhh, I think I’ll pass,” the preteen boy stated casually. He nodded to bring the round sunglasses on his head down to cover his eyes so they couldn’t get a good look at him. “I like training here. My Pokedex says there’s a really strong dark type Pokemon called Absol. I wanna beat it up with my bug squad.” He then grinned to make it more convincing.

Unfortunately for him, they didn’t take it. “Guzmaaaa,” Kukui whined, beginning to shake him. “Come ooooon. Things are only fun if all of us can go! You can find an Absol when we’re done, yeah!”

He opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off. “Oh, don’t bother, Kukui,” Kahili said with a yawn, beginning to walk towards the beach. “You know he’s just being a scaredy-cat baby, you can’t convince him. Let’s go, he’ll ruin it for us anyway with his bad attitude.”

He tensed, and felt Kukui and Molayne’s eyes nervously dart over to look at him. After a quiet pause, he shoved Kukui’s arm off of him and raised his glasses back up.

“WHAT did you just say about me?” He growled, stomping towards her with his teeth gritted.

“Hey, cut it o-” Kukui was cut off by Kahili’s sharp reply.

“You’re being a scaredy-cat, that’s all,” she shot back with a shrug. Molayne bit his lip as Guzma’s fists curled.

Guzma often had trouble getting along with Kahili, even when they were six years old and just starting trainer school. Everything about her existence frustrated him - her good family, that she came from money, that she was always at an advantage when they battled because of her Flying type specialty. She was always seen as ‘better’ than him without even having to try. Kahili, on the other hand, just found his various issues irritating, and tended to get short with him whenever his disarray of emotions began to flare up. Fights like these were common and usually started by Guzma, for that reason, but this one was impacting him a lot more than usual.

He got closer to her and jabbed a finger at her face. “Don’t. Call. Me. That,” he asserted, volume rising. “I ain’t no sissy. I ain’t scared of NOTHIN’ or NO-BODY. I’m the bravest one here. I told y’all that I just wanna fight an Absol. That’s it. So leave me alone, Kahili.” As he said he name, he jabbed his finger at her forehead, realizing it was harder than he meant to when her pale eyes winced.

“Ow, you jerk!” she exclaimed. “God, get away from me-!” She quickly pushed him back by reflex. Bad move.

He didn’t like people touching him. He really, really didn’t, especially shoving him, even if he’d never tell the girl in front of him the reason for it. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he staggered back, only just catching himself from falling over. Once he regained his balance, his reaction was immediate.

“DON’T. PUSH. ME!”

And then, with his eyes shut, his fist went flying towards her face. It took him a minute to register that he made contact with - well, something, and as his eyes fluttered open and he snapped back to reality, Kukui’s face scowled up at him as he grabbed Guzma’s fist, all while Kahili stared dumbfounded with Molayne’s arms wrapped around her from pulling her away.

Guzma started breathing and sweating heavily as the situation clicked in his head. He hadn’t meant to do that. He had told himself he’d NEVER do anything like that, not after-

“What the HECK, GUZMA?!” Kahili exclaimed, freeing herself from the other boy. “What is wrong with you? You just tried to hit a girl!”

“I- It was-” he stammered, trying to come up with the right words, tongue feeling dry and throat closing.

“Guzma.”

The voice was stern and unfamiliar. But he knew it belonged to his best friend. He glanced down at Kukui. His face was full of rage, but his eyes in particular displayed nothing but disappointment. He couldn’t keep looking at it. It was breaking his heart. He tried to make eye contact with Molayne, his last hope of maybe someone who would vouch for him that this was just some silly dumb accident that they could all laugh off like the rest of his and Kahili’s fights, but he just stared back in disbelief.

“Go. Away.” Kahili’s words cut through the awkward atmosphere like a rusty knife, every syllable dripping with contempt. “Go. Go play with your stupid bugs all by yourself!” As her voice raised it began to crack, and she was shaking slightly, though it was unclear if it was from fear or anger. “Go live on your own like the stupid dumb sissy cry baby antisocial freak you are! What is WRONG with you, Guzma?! All we’ve ever done is be nice to your weird freak self and you’re still just a huge sensitive JERK! GO _DROWN_ FOR ALL I CARE!”

The other two boy’s attention quickly snapped back to her, dismayed at the intensity of her outburst. They glanced at each other, silently communicating whether or not they should try to calm her down or prepare for him to try to lunge at her and beat her to a pulp. His trembling hand leaving Kukui’s grip answered it.

“Fine,” he stated flatly, turning around. He put on his hood and sunglasses before beginning to walk away. He took a deep breath before continuing, struggling to hide that he was fighting back tears. “G- Guess what- you LOSERS will never see me again,” he continued, forcing a sharp laugh. “A-a-and, guess what, when I’m a captain, and you guys have to take my trial, then we’ll see who the REAL scaredy cats are.” He didn’t even know where his insults were going at this point, and yet he found himself spitting out anything that came to mind. “Cuz, cuz, I’m not scared of anything, but boy, you all will be! And then all of Alola will know who I am, Big Bad Captain Guzma, who ain’t scared of nothing and no stupid spoiled brat will ever make fun of!”

He didn’t wait to hear their responses before he started running.

He only stopped a few times to catch his breath and shed a few tears, but besides that, Guzma ran as fast as he could down whatever path was ahead of him. He didn’t care where he ended up. He just wanted to be far away from his so called ‘best friend’ jerks and not ever see them again. He didn’t even care if he had to live on Ula’ula his whole life. He’d just live on his own and make all new friends who actually liked him and liked bug Pokemon and then become captain and then become kahuna and live happily ever after. Simple as that.

His path dead ended into a beach, and he found himself staring at his reflection in the sea. He had half a mind to actually drown himself, if only to spite Kahili and make her feel bad and guilty about it the rest of her life. Instead he observed everything that made him him. His mess of black hair, showing strands of white from what Molayne had described as ‘probably either stress or genetics’. His tired and now bloodshot eyes. His big nose and the band-aid that covered it from how prone he was to getting scratches from his Pokemon. The way his right eye got all scrunched up whenever he was upset. How big he was compared to all of his friends. Ugh. He didn’t like any of it. Kahili was right, he was just some big freak.

“Guh,” he groaned, going over to kick a rock. It hurt more than satisfied his anger. “Guzma, what is wrong with you?” It was a repeat not only of Kahili but of numerous other people in his life, and at this point it may as well have been the phrase most associated with him.

Once he had gotten out of his spiral of self hatred, he figured it be best to find a place to try and feel better, especially if it did end up that his friends were going to abandon him there forever (which secretly he really hoped they didn’t). He knew exactly what kind of place he’d need to look for, and as he pulled out his Pokedex, he just hoped there’d be something like that for him.

Bingo. Bug Pokemon central, just up ahead. He apparently had to cross the ocean to get there, but that would be no problem. He fished in his pocket for his most familiar Pokeball, and released his companion inside of it. Golisopod popped out and made friendly clicking noises upon seeing his trainer appear somewhat distressed, but Guzma just began casually climbing on his large Pokemon’s back. “Take me across the ocean to the next beach, lil dude,” he muttered, still using the term of endearment he did when he was a little Wimpod. The giant bug chittered happily, excited to get a chance to swim, and happily headed towards the sea for the short journey ahead of them.


End file.
